One of some five or six paintings executed by Grimshaw in the 1870s and '80s in which the same figure appears. They have been much confused, but certain points can be made: the figures differ in scale in relation to the size of the canvas; some are totally nude, some diaphanously draped; and they represent a variety of subjects - Iris, in classical mythology the messenger of the gods; the Spirit of Night (from Shelley); and the goddess Diana hovering over the shepherd Endymion on Mount Latmos.

The closest of the present picture is the Iris in the Leeds Art Gallery, slightly larger in format and dated 1886 (Atkinson Grimshaw, exh. Leeds, Southampton and Liverpool, 1979-80, no.63, repr. in cat.). The figures are in reverse but the conception is very similar, and the Leeds picture has an inscription on the back which casts light on the enigmatic title of our picture: 'Now Iris being chief messenger unto Juno was sent on her Autumn errand to wither ye flowers and leaves. On coming alte ye Water Lily, being enamoured ye beauty therof, she did hesitate ... and was changed into a rainbow for her disobedience'. As for the words 'third reading', these would seem to imply that the picture is a third version, presumably later than that at Leeds and another which, according to the 1979-80 exhibition catalogue, was painted in 1876. The latter is probably identifiable with a canvas sold in these Rooms 14 June 1963, lot 138, under the title Midsummer Night.